In modern day police state, USA, exchanging goods and services is a crime unless the state gets their cut. So, even though a Carrollton mother was “stunned” to find a warrant issued for her arrest for selling tamales to her neighbors — it was to be expected.

This week, Dennise Cruz was shocked to receive a yellow postcard from the City of Carrollton stating that if she doesn’t immediately submit to their extortion demands, then she would be kidnapped and locked in a cage.

“That has to be wrong. I don’t have any tickets under my name. That’s just my first reaction. Never would have I thought, tamales,” said Cruz in an interview with CBS DFW. “To know that somebody can be arrested over that, that to me is unbelievable.”

The yellow ticket was a “warrant arrest notice” stemming from Cruz’ illegal activity a few months prior. Cruz, obviously a hardened criminal worthy of police action, decided to make her famous tamales and post them on the app Nextdoor for sale. Her neighbors loved them.

“It’s just so common. That’s why to me, I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal,” said Cruz.

However, because Cruz did not pay the state to operate this business, their procedure is to rob her under the threat of violence. She was hit with a $700 fine.

“When it hit me, I was like that is a lot of money,” said Cruz.

When Cruz called the city to protest her extortion, the clerk told her that someone reported her for not having a food permit. However, this is not likely as only the government would know such things.

“I don’t understand because if anything I would have rather them come to me first if they had any concerns,” said Cruz.

The city of Carrollton maintains that extorting Cruz is in the interest of the people. According to a city director, tamales are a danger to society. A director said a fine was issued and not a warning because tamales are considered “potentially hazardous food” due to the cooked corn and meat being used, according to CBS DFW.

This absurd arrest warrant comes on the heels of an equally asinine incident, also in Texas, in which two young girls had their lemonade stand shut down by local cops for not having the correct permit. The good news is that, like Cruz, the girls refused to roll over and opened their stand up again the next weekend…